Catherine Coulter – FBI 4 The Edge

“True enough, but you see, the drug is meant to be given in a controlled setting in which the memory is repeatedly triggered. So the drug is focused.”

“It sounds incredible,” Savich said slowly. “But how can you continue research by yourself, in a home laboratory?”

“I was very close to success when I left VioTech, although none of the decision makers at VioTech agreed. It’s just a matter of fine-tuning some of the drug’s side chains.”

“Would the drug be addictive?” I asked.

“Oh no,” Paul said, shaking his head. “Oh no.”

“What about military uses?” Savich asked. “After all, if you can lessen all the physical manifestations of distress, why, then you could give your soldiers a shot and produce a battalion of heroes.”

“No, I won’t ever have anything to do with the military.”

Paul looked incredibly tired, his voice flat, as if he simply didn’t care about anything anymore.

“When I asked you about this before,” I said, “you just laughed it off as a fountain of youth drug. This is something else entirely.”

“It doesn’t matter. None of this has anything to do with Jilly’s disappearance. It doesn’t have anything to do with anything at all. Go away, Mac. I don’t want to talk to either of you anymore. Please leave now.”

“Oh?” I asked, an eyebrow up. “You just want to attack women who happen to wander into your house?”

“Maggie told you about it all wrong. She was coming on to me and when I decided to do something about it, she turned on me. A man gets horny, you know that. Maggie’s nothing but a tease, Mac.”

“Tell me where Jilly is, Paul.”

“I don’t know. If I did, I’d be with her.”

“Look, Paul,” I continued after a moment, “it’s time to drop the pretense. Laura told me she’s DEA, that she was undercover. They know about this drug. They know about Molinas. There were then two attempts on Laura’s life after Jilly disappeared. Who ordered them, Paul? You? Tarcher? This arch criminal, Del Cabrizo? Tell us how Tarcher’s involved. Tell us about John Molinas.”

“I don’t have to talk to you, and I want you to go away, both of you.” With those words, Paul got up and walked out of the living room.

I went after him. When he heard me coming, he broke into a run, took the stairs three at a time. By the time I caught up to him, he was locked in his laboratory. Jesus, I thought, this was nuts. It was a steel-reinforced door. I didn’t have a prayer of breaking it open. I told him to let me in, pleaded with him to tell me what was going on before they came in with a search warrant, but he remained completely silent.

After ten minutes, I felt Savich touch my arm. “Let’s go,” he said. “We need to regroup. Maybe it’s time for Laura to call her boss at the DEA and let them take over. A search warrant doesn’t sound like such a bad idea. They can haul both him and Tarcher in and interrogate them big time. Jesus, I’m tired. That late flight is catching up with me.”

“Maybe you and Sherlock can rest a little when we get back to the cottage.”

Chapter Nineteen

Laura and I held hands while we watched the sun sink into the ocean. The evening was mild with only a light breeze coming off the ocean. We walked along the cliffs, stopping every couple of steps to talk or kiss.

“You’re right,” she said, her arms clasped tightly around my back.

“About what this time?” I kissed her silly before she managed to pull back.

“We’ve talked to almost everyone today. You baited Tarcher. You went after Paul and he’s locked himself up. It’s hard to know how to make any more progress. Unless you’ve got a better idea, maybe it’s time to call my boss and let the DBA come on out and kick butt.”

Savich agreed with her. I agreed with her. But what hit me full in the gut in that moment was that I had met Laura less than a week before. Yet I knew she was honorable and, I’d wager, as loyal as a tick. After less than a week, I knew I didn’t want to let her get away from me.

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